Worcesterites “marry” corporations at City Hall

On this rainy day outside Worcester’s City Hall, Occupy Worcester organized a series of satirical marriage ceremonies between local residents and corporations, to protest corporate personhood.

Here, Sarah stands with her groom, the Corrections Corporation of America.

Update: Because of the rain, these events were in/under the City Hall entryway. OW folks tell me the following. OW had an actual permit for the event. Police came and moved them to the Franklin St side. Some OW folks went to the City Manager’s office to ask why, when they had a permit, they were made to move. They were met inside by police, threatened with a trespassing charge, and told not to return. OW folks are meeting with the City Solicitor and perhaps the Mayor right now. A press release is forthcoming. From Facebook: “Occupy Worcester members illegally and forcefully evicted from City Hall during business hours! We could use some bodies at City Hall now.”

Congressman McGovern’s office is not far from City Hall, so some OW folks went to talk with him about this. Congressman McGovern is no stranger to civil disobedience himself.

Second Update: Here’s a post with the blow-by-blow. The upshot is that the permit was for “the Franklin St side of City Hall,” which the organizers and the police interpreted differently. Also potentially the permit was invalid because the organizers didn’t hire police officers to watch over the protest. The main ridiculous thing here is that people were threatened with arrest when they asked to talk to a city staffer about making an appointment with the City Manager. This post is quite funny and enthusiastic:

So we go to see our congressional representative, who keeps an office next to the world’s shadiest mini-mall.

While explaining ourselves to the secretary, who should walk by but none other than Congressman Jim McGovern! We talk about what happened, and the whole time he’s nodding sagely like some kind of Jedi master, like he’s peered into his crystal ball and foreseen the encroaching forces of Bullshit Repression and Jerkwad Authoritarians, and that now is the time to put counter-measures into place.

Right off the bat he blows our minds by revealing that he has been arrested 3 times for protesting the massacre in Darfur outside of embassies, which is the most badass place you can get arrested for protesting, second only to volcanos. He confirms that heinous bullshit had indeed transpired, and put a call in to the city manager while we were talking.

As we were shooting the breeze with an honest-to-God-Congressman like it was no big deal, I get a call from one of the other Occupiers who was there that night, saying that the Mayor has been informed, is pissed, and wants to meet with us and the city solicitor so as to sort out hand grenades from horseshoes when it comes to things like free speech and police nonsense.

So yeah, your average light conversation, you know?

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